Clinical Perspectives on Kink: Through the DSM: Depathologizing Kink Online
This workshop examines how kink has been framed within diagnostic systems over time, with a focus on the evolution of paraphilic disorders in the DSM and the clinical and ethical consequences of those frameworks. We will look at how paraphilias were conceptualized and categorized in DSM-5, including the distinction between atypical sexual interests and paraphilic disorders, and how that distinction attempts to separate consensual variation from pathology (Beech, Miner, & Thornton, 2016; First, 2014). Building on this, we will explore how emerging models of sexual interest paradigms challenge older, pathology-centered views and invite more nuanced ways of understanding kink in clinical practice (Fedoroff, 2020). The workshop also integrates cultural analysis, including the impact of systemic stigma and legal influences such as FOSTA/SESTA, while encouraging clinicians to consider how diagnostic language may still perpetuate harm when used uncritically (Bezreh et al., 2021). Participants will leave with a critical understanding of how diagnostic frameworks shape clinical decision-making and how to provide affirming care for kink-identified clients without reproducing pathologizing narratives.
Presented by Yulinda Renee Rahman, PhD, LCPC
---------------------------
This program, when attended in its entirety, offers 3.0 CEs for Psychologists, 3.0 IL CEUs for Counselors and Social Workers, 3.0 BBS California CEUs for LPCCs, LPSWs, and LMFTs, 3.0 AASECT CEs for Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists, or 3.0 NBCC Clock Hours.
---------------------------
---------------------------
PROGRAM PRICING:
- General Admission: $75
- Students: $50*
(*Please email officeofce@thechicagoschool.edu for coupon code. Code must be entered at time of checkout to receive discount.)
Refund Policy: 100% of tuition is refundable up to 48 hours before the program. Within 48 hours of the program, and at any point in Homestudy format, tuition is nonrefundable.
- Date:
- Thursday, April 23, 2026
- Time:
- 11:00am - 2:00pm
- Time Zone:
- Central Time - US & Canada (change)
- Online:
- This is an online event.
- Event URL:
- https://tcsppofficeofce.com/april_23_2026/
- Audience:
- All Graduate Students All Students Alumni Doctoral Students Faculty Masters Students Public The Chicago School Community Undergraduate Students